MD of Foothills councilors are calling on the Province to change speed limits on several highways across the Foothills area.
Concern over speeds and safety were discussed by MD of Foothills councillors and Darren Davidson, regional director for the southern region of Alberta Transportation, May 11.
Councillors renewed their call for the Province to lower the speed limit on Secondary Highway 552 near the Heritage Heights School from 80 km/h to 60 km/h.
“The Province did a study and engineers came back and said they should not change it, it should stay 80 km/h,” said MD mayor Larry Spilak. “I contacted the deputy minister and the minister’s office and they agreed to reassess this portion of the highway.”
He said traffic will increase as the Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools opens a new school at Heritage Heights this fall, at the same site as an existing school and indoor arena. All three are accessed from Secondary Highway 552, he added.
“That can be managed well with intermittent school schedules to stagger traffic, but the concern of both school boards and the MD is that the speed limit of 80 km/h is too high,” said Spilak. “There’s just far too much traffic going in and out of the area to have the speed any higher than 60 km/h.”
Davidson said the Province will do another study to determine what the right speed is for the area.
“We’re doing a review of it, but we haven’t got all the data yet,” he said. “It’s sensitive there.”
The speed limit is being reduced to 90 km/h on Secondary Highway 762 west of Millarville due to poor conditions along the road, said Davidson.
The Province will repair areas where portions of the road have slumped and given way this summer before a new layer of pavement is applied next year.
“We’ve agreed to lower the speed on that to 90 km/h,” said Davidson. “It’s winding and curvy and people tend to speed out there. There have been some crashes out there due to speed.”
He said the Province will also look into reducing the 100 km/h speed limit on Hwy 23 east of the Hwy 2 overpass at High River, near an intersection with a service road.
The MD is optimistic one of its top highway priorities may finally get the green light.
A proposal to widen and improve the intersection at Priddis Valley Road and Highway 22 has been added to the Province’s list of unfunded capital projects.
While funding it not yet in place, Coun. Suzanne Oel said the move gives her “reason for hope.”
“It’s been in the works for a number of years,” said Oel. “Now it’s at the point it’s waiting for funding, which is promising.”
The project is intended to improve safety at the busy intersection, by widening Fish Creek and providing passing lanes in either direction.
“There have been a significant amount of incidents at the intersection,” said Oel. “People would be turning left and other people would try to pass them. There have been a lot of near misses and serious accidents.”
Davidson said there is no guarantee when funding will come.
“There are pretty significant projects on that list,” said Davidson. “But it’s on there and that’s a good start.”
